Coming off a sweep of its opposition in the Bobcat Invitational and finishing a home stand, the Ohio volleyball team will hit the road and travel to the Tar Heel state to take on UNC Greensboro tonight.
The Bobcats (4-5) have won four of their past five matches, including their last nine sets played. After starting the season 0-4, the team is picking up its stride heading into the final weekend before Mid-American Conference play begins.
“I think there is a good chance we will be in a lot of tight games this weekend and we need to win those,” said Ohio coach Ryan Theis. “If we can ball-control and run our offense as effectively as we did last weekend, then we’ll have a good chance to win.”
Ohio has been firing on offense, led by sophomore outside hitter Kelly Lamberti, who was awarded the MAC East offensive player of the week for the second consecutive week. She also was named the Bobcat Invitational MVP last weekend, leading the team in points, kills and aces during the weekend.
Aside from Lamberti’s dominant play on offense, the Bobcats have also been a threat on the other side of the net. Ohio is currently ranked 32nd in the nation in blocks with 2.65 blocks per set. Sophomore middle blocker Serena Warner has helped reach that achievement. Her block average is second in the MAC and 20th in the nation.
UNC Greensboro (4-3) began the season with a three-match winning streak, but has since lost three of its past four matches. However, each of the team’s three losses occurred in five-set matches.
The Spartans are lead by their freshman libero Katherine Santiago, after she was named top libero in the team’s most recent tournament. Santiago recorded a match and career-high 32 digs in the match against American University.
Standing out offensively for UNC Greensboro is Karrian Chambers, who leads the team in kills with 88, which is 11 more than the second place member on the team.
The match will be the first of three in North Carolina this coming weekend, as the Bobcats are also set to take the court with North Carolina and NC State.
This is the team’s first road trip since opening weekend.
“I don’t know enough about this particular group to know how we will do on our first mid-week road trip, but I guess we will find out as we go,” Theis said. “I think we are continuing to improve this week and we are getting better.”
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